


Christmas Cards and Hats

by DeerJesus (MaddAsAHat)



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Benverly is also there but also requires some squinting, Christmas Party, High School AU, Multi, New Year's Party, They're all in high school, rated for swearing and underage drinking ???, stenbroughlon if you squint I mean really, that's p much it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-02 01:09:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,169
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17254799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaddAsAHat/pseuds/DeerJesus
Summary: It's after Christmas and a New Year is about to start, and a holiday party with some leftover mistletoe is the perfect place to let that special someone know exactly how you feel about them.If only you can get your shit together long enough to do it.(aka Richie and Eddie are stupid, Beverly is frustrated, Stan is confident, and everyone else is just tired.)(HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE! :D)





	Christmas Cards and Hats

**Author's Note:**

> Based entirely on the movie characterizations, as I am not yet finished reading the book.
> 
> I am trash and apologize in advance. This was a Christmas fic that I didn't get up in time for actual Christmas and so it turned into a Christmas/New Year's fic. Also let me know if you have a better title idea ??

Though they still deemed themselves the Losers Club, not many others seemed to think so, since they had somehow gotten invited to somebody-or-other's holiday party. It seemed like pretty much everyone was there.

It was a Christmas party and a New Year's party rolled into one, sort of. It was really only still a Christmas party in the sense that the owners of the house STILL had lights and a decorated tree up, as well as some remnants of mistletoe that had been overlooked after Christmas Eve had gone by and ended. It was a New Year's party in the sense that it was actually taking place on December 31st, aka New Year's Eve, a full five days after Christmas Day.

Still, everyone had some sort of festive or holiday-wear at the party, it was apparently part of the requirement to attend: "No festive/holiday spirit, no entry," whoever had invited them had said. Many people still wore ugly Christmas sweaters (those were always a good choice), but the Losers decided they didn't want to go that far, they didn't need quite that much spirit.

Some people were wearing the truly terrifying sweaters, while others elected to wear necklaces made to look like strings of Christmas lights, or stockings and sleeves designed like candy-canes. Each member of the Losers Club had their own sort of Christmas-style costume-hat that they decided (or rather, that Richie and Beverly had decided for all of them) to wear to show their holiday spirit.

Ben and Beverly each wore a traditional red Santa cap, though embellished with a sparkly more-pink-than-red "Mr." and "Mrs." respectively. Richie had gotten them the hats on a whim at the mall, and declared them the Santa and Mrs. Clause of the group upon giving it to them when the group met up an hour later in the food court.

Bill and Mike each wore a set of antlers (Bill had been elected to wear the red nose), while Stan wore a typical cone-shaped party hat that shimmered greatly under lights. He had only agreed to it after getting that first cocktail in him. He wasn't quite drunk or tipsy, but lightly buzzed and enjoying himself. There was no amount of alcohol that would make Stan don any other outrageous pieces of holiday-wear (not even the dreidel hat that Richie also brought him, as it looked incredibly stupid and "nothing like a dreidel!").

For himself and Eddie, Richie had gotten elf hats, complete with felt ears pinned to the sides. Though Eddie claimed that Richie was "too fucking tall, more like the size of two-and-a-half elves," Richie just laughed it off while stuffing the hat onto his head anyway before going to do the same for his disgruntled short friend.

"You're elf enough for the two of us, Eds." He had said.

"Why exactly are we wearing these again?"Mike asked as they headed up to the house the party was taking place at. "These are very Christmas-y hats, and it's not Christmas anymore."

"Because these assholes still have their decorations up!" Richie exclaimed. "They're asking for people to show up in Christmas gear, for one." He had an arm slung around Mike's shoulders as they ascended the porch. "And for two, fuck the system. They say we can't still be Christmas-y after Christmas? I say screw that!"

There was no time left for arguing as they made their way inside, and so that was apparently that.

* * *

The party had been going for an hour-or-so, and everyone was enjoying themselves, especially with the compliments they were receiving towards their holiday-wear choices. Everyone except their brightly-redheaded friend.

"Ugh, I am so sick of this." Beverly Marsh groaned to three of her Loser friends. Bill, Ben, and Mike all followed her gaze to where Richie was being distracted from his usual flirting with Eddie by another girl flirting with him. Eddie looked jealous and obvious about it.

"Wh-what do you want to d-do about it, Bev?" Bill sighed.

"I want to force them to finally get-the-fuck-together!" She was frustrated. "Jesus, they're so oblivious, it's painful!" She took a swig of her drink, a beer, while Ben patted her comfortingly on her shoulder. She sighed and leaned into him.

"What, you don't find watching the two of them dance around each other constantly entertaining?" Mike joked.

"Absolutely fucking not." Beverly responded. "I swear, if we don't help them figure this out, they'll never know how the other feels, they'll never admit they're madly in love, and then they'll never get married and adopt cute babies!" She waved the hand that was holding her drink around wildly. Ben gently tugged the bottle out of her hand and held onto it for her.

"I don't think we should be talking about interfering in our friends' love lives." He said.

"I don't think we should be this invested in their love lives in the first place." Mike put in, and Bill nodded.

"Seriously, Bev, what's w-w-with you and Richie-and-Eddie?" He asked her, and she sighed again.

"I just love the gays." She whined. "And I want my gay boys to be happy."

"Talking about Richie and Eddie again, huh?" Stan had come over and interrupted before anyone could react to Bev's odd, yet unsurprising comment.

"Yeah." Mike sighed. "Bev's adamant about helping them get together."

"Finally." Bev put in.

"We won't need to help them." Stan said. They all looked at him questioningly. He sipped his cocktail. "Look, they've had crushes on each other since, like, middle school, right? And clearly they haven't gone away. They won't talk to each other about it and they won't talk to us or anyone else. That many years of denial and repressing that shit is only building up, and soon they simply won't be able to hold it in any longer." He took another sip, before finishing matter-of-factly: "They'll explode."

The others stared at him.

"I dunno..." Ben started. "They've been holding their feelings in for that long, what makes you think it'll all come out now?"

"Yeah, what's to s-say they won't be h-h-holding their feelings in f-forever?"

"They're incredibly hormonal teenagers." Stan answered, again matter-of-factly.

"They're also incredibly stupid." Bev said. "Stupidity is a strong emotion, and it makes denial and repression stronger."

"Stupidity's not an emotion, Bev." Mike laughed. Bev flicked the air at him, annoyance and lack of giving-a-fuck clear on her face.

"Maybe, but stupidity mixed with hormones and alcohol..." Stan said. "Trust me, they'll be all over each other, even more so-" He paused as they watched Eddie try to leave, but Richie tugged the boy back, throwing an arm around his shoulders and pulling him close, "by the end of this party."

"And if they're not?" Bev's response was a little too immediate.

"Then you can help them get together." Stan said without pause. "Even I'll be frustrated beyond belief if that happens."

* * *

Whether Eddie was actually voluntarily following Richie around, or Richie was just dragging Eddie along with him everywhere he went, nobody could tell. They were just always together. Even when...

"Well, well. Look where we are, Eds." Richie's voice was soft, quiet. Eddie looked up just as the taller boy looked down at him and saw it - mistletoe. One of the forgotten ones from five days ago. Eddie's heart started beating faster and he moved his eyes to meet Richie's.

"It's tradition, Eds. Gotta do it."

Eddie couldn't even chastize Richie for the nickname, or for the fact that it wasn't even technically Christmas anymore (not that Richie would have listened to him anyway). All he could think about was how much he wanted to kiss the boy standing in front of him. Little did he know, that's all their five other friends wanted too, as they watched the two boys from a corner of the room. He leaned up, angling his head towards his friend's. He was going to do it. This was really happening...

And holy fuck, this was really happening. He was about to kiss his best friend, the guy he'd had a crush on for eight fucking years, his friend who was probably only here and doing this because he was drunk and it was "tradition" as Richie had so bluntly put it, and this was probably a big mistake and would probably fuck everything up between them.

In short, this couldn't be happening.

Eddie started to panic but before he could force his body to move, to turn and run away, Richie moved forward and gently, so softly, pressed his lips to Eddie's.

It was over too quickly, Richie pulled away in surprise as Eddie stumbled backwards in shock and panic, the adrenaline flooding through him, and it was when he saw the hurt and just plain confusion on the taller boy's face that he turned on his heel and bolted.

Across the room, unnoticed by anyone, their group of friends groaned in frustration, and Bev swore.

"Can I help them now?" She asked, looking to Stan.

"Not yet." Stan said, though he looked almost as annoyed as she did and like he very much wanted to say yes to her. "They've still got until the end of the party."

Beverly pouted in response.

Eddie, meanwhile, was in his own turmoil. He was currently taking up residence in one of the bathrooms upstairs, and he had ignored the first and second times someone had knocked at the door. When the third knock came, however, accompanied by some shouting to "get the fuck out", Eddie had merely responded with a loud and slighjtly slurred, "fuck off" of his own, which the person had apparently done because there was no more knocking after that.

He had snuck back downstairs for another drink because what-the-fuck-else was he going to do right now?? Luckily he managed to avoid all of his friends, especially the tall Trashmouth. He was back upstairs almost 30 seconds later, cup in hand, drink in mouth, but found his bathroom was now taken. Who the fuck had been keeping an eye so closely on his space that they were that quick to take it, and also, how dare they? He chugged the rest of drink. Suddenly, he knew what he had to do. The drink gave him confidence, and too much confidence to worry about how much confidence he had just acquired or what the consequences of said confidence might be.

When he got back downstairs, he found Richie standing alone, in a corner. There wasn't any mistletoe anywhere near them, but fuck it. Eddie didn't need mistletoe. He could do this shit without it. Easy-peasy. Easy as pie. No more thinking about it, the time was for action.

Eddie nodded to himself, and then nodded some more. He had to do this, he wanted, needed to do this. He found himself marching up to Richie too soon, legs likely ready before his brain was.

"Ohh god, what the fuck." He thought he muttered to himself, but it must have been louder than he thought and Richie must have heard him because he was fixing Eddie with a look of combined curiousity and confusion, but Eddie only saw it for the briefest of moments before he had Richie's shirt in his hands and he was standing on his tip-toes to smash their lips together. He stayed there, kept their mouths pressed together, afraid of the turn-out of his actions if he pulled away. Richie didn't seem to mind, after a short pause, he felt the tall boy hesitantly move his lips against Eddie's, and then just like that they were kissing, actually actively kissing, and Eddie felt like he might implode, or explode, he didn't fucking know, but he really didn't care.

Eddie felt Richie's hands move to his hips, settling gently on them, and holy fuck, it was probably the alcohol because surely such a small action shouldn't cause Eddie to melt completely into Richie and the moment, but he did.

When he did finally pull away, Eddie's hazy brain wondered if he should be panicking again. After all, he had probably just fucked up eight years of friendship and ruined one of the best things that had ever (and would ever) happened to him. On the other hand, Richie had kissed him back. So what the fuck did that mean?

As if reading his thoughts, he felt the other boy's hands tighten on his hips, and then he was being pulled closer until he was pressed flush against Richie's chest. Eddie looked up at him.

"If you think I'm gonna let you run off again after that, you're very cutely mistaken." Richie was clearly also drunk because that didn't make a lick of sense in Eddie's mind.

"Rich, I'm..." He rested his head on the taller boy's chest, feeling like he no longer had the energy to keep it upright. "M'gonna pass the-fuck out."

"Let's get you a private room, then."

* * *

Eddie woke up only an hour-and-a-half later to find himself sprawled over half a bed in one of the upstairs rooms (as that was as much he could cover with his tiny body). His elf hat had fallen off at some point and he saw it smooshed between two of the pillows at his head.

Richie was, inexplicably not passed out next to him, in fact he was nowhere to be seen, but neither was anybody else. The door was closed and Eddie was all alone, save for the faint sound of music and chatter still drifting past the thick wood of the bedroom door.

Eddie fumbled for his phone and saw that he had a text. But what he saw first was the time.

10:28.

Eddie jolted up, heart racing for a few seconds before he looked out the window and realized that the sky was dark. It was in the evening, not morning. He breathed a deep sigh of relief, trying to still his heart. After calming down, he checked his text, which confirmed the time.

 _Good evening, sleeping beauty ;)_ Sent thirty minutes ago.

Eddie didn't respond to the text, when he moved to sit up he distracted by something mildly pointy poking at his elbow. He looked down to find something, small and flat lying next to him on the bed. An envelope. With simply "Eddie" written on/across it in Richie's scrawl. When he turned it over to open it, he saw another note written in the same script:

_I'm sorry if you hate me for kissing you (though I really hope you don't). Since I'm hoping that you kissing me actually meant something and wasn't just in a crazy, drunken haze, I thought I would give you this. I mean, a guy can hope, right?_

That was all it said, and Eddie was completely bewildered, and confused. Of course their kiss had meant something to Eddie, both of them had! Had Richie not been able to feel his heart practically trying to leap out of his chest when their lips met?? He tore open the letter, curiosity leaving no room for careful and meticulous picking at the flap of the envelope he held now in his hands.

On the front of the card was a really cheesy (and kind of stupid, in Eddie's opinion) drawing of a Christmas tree with a lit-up star sitting on top. The tree had eyes that were looking upwards (presumably at the star, since the star also had eyes that were looking down at the tree), and next to the tree was a speech bubble. Inside the speech bubble, it said, "You are the light of my life!" The inside of the card was empty from any fancy scripted text, but there was writing in a familiar, somewhat messy scrawl. Eddie started reading.

 _Dear Eds Spagheds_ , it read.

_Every year, I get an idea of giving you a card like this to tell you how I feel about you, because I'm too chickenshit to do it in person. I never do it though, and I probably won't be giving you this card either because you'll either freak out or think it's just a joke._

_So, since you probably won't be seeing this, I might as well tell you._

_I'm so crazy about you, Eds. Like, you have no idea. Every day I think about holding your hand as we walk to class or just around the neighborhood. I think about kissing you at the quarry. I know there's a Christmas party coming up soon and a part of me wants to find you under some mistletoe and kiss you there, until both of us can't breathe. I think about cuddling with you when it's cold outside. I think about all this cute romantic shit that I wanna do with YOU, only you, Eds. I wanna be fucking romantic with you, I like you that much._

_Truth be told, I...I think I love you. But I could never fucking tell you that, you deserve so much more, so much better, and you would never feel the same for me, anyway. But since you'll never see this letter, I might as well get it off my chest._

_Do you know how many other letters like this I've written?_

_I kept them all._

_And I'll probably be keeping this one, too._

_Merry Christmas, Eddie._ Next to his name, Richie had drawn a small, slightly crude heart. Underneath that, in the same scrawl, though written in a different color and a bit more hastily as it was probably just added in, was _And happy new year._ Eddie didn't know what to say (not that there would be anyone to say it to, but still).

Meanwhile, downstairs, a slightly drunker Richie was panicking to Bev.

"Why the fuck did I give him that card-letter He won't feel the same way He's probably laughing at me and tearing it up or lighting it on fire or something right now What's fucking wrong with me This was such a bad idea, oh my god- "

* * *

"Mike." Eddie practically jumped him after leaving the bedroom (which, luckily, was locked from the inside, Richie must have done it before leaving him). "Where's Richie?"

"He was downstairs." Mike told him, adjusting his now skewed antlers after Eddie had run into him. "Dunno where he would be now though, he's kinda been running all over the place after you two disappeared earlier."

Eddie was down the stairs before Mike was done speaking.

He found Richie standing in the same corner as he had an hour-and-a-half before, mouth running to Beverly. When they saw him approaching, Richie shut up immediately and Beverly chose to leave, muttering "This better fucking be it," as she walked by Eddie. Eddie had no idea what the fuck she meant.

Richie stared at him, he hadn't moved or opened his mouth yet since she left. Eddie stood there, opposite him, also staring. Finally, Richie spoke.

"Hey, Eds."

"Hey, Rich."

"Where's your hat?"

"Oh." Eddie reached up to his head to find that his elf hat was no longer sitting atop it. "I must've forgotten it upstairs." Richie nodded and they were both silent again for a moment.

"I thought you'd still be passed-the-fuck-out." Richie eventually said, taking Eddie's words from earlier.

"No." Eddie shook his head. "Woke up about fifteen minutes ago." He paused. "I read your card."

"Oh!" Richie nodded furiously, blushing bright red. "Yeah? Uh...what'd you think?"

Eddie paused again and Richie followed suit, neither of them speaking for the moment.

"How many cards have you written?"

Richie blinked, he looked confused.

"In your card, you said you've written others like it, and you kept them all." Eddie explained. "How many have you written?"

"Oh, uh..." Richie thought for a moment, tongue just barely poking out from between his lips. "Honestly, I don't know, Eds. I've...I've written a lot."

There was another pause.

"Can you tell me what you thought?"

Now Eddie blushed.

"I didn't think you were even...I mean, I didn't know you ever even thought of me like...that."

Richie laughed, more out of relief than from actually finding anything funny. "Really?? I mean, why did you think I kept coming over and interrupting you every time I saw another guy trying to flirt with you tonight?"

"I thought you were just being protective." Eddie mumbled, blushing brighter. "Like you would be for any of us."

"Oh, I am protective." Richie looked suddenly serious. "But for you, it's...different. You're special." And then his signature grin was back as he continued, "Nobody gets to flirt with my Spaghetti except me."

Eddie wished he could stop blushing, but something else in the letter came to his mind, and he was sure his face would now permanently hold a tomato-shade...

"You've been thinking about kissing me?"

"From the day I met you, if I'm honest." Richie admitted.

"Geez, it took me at least two years before I even thought about considering liking you." Eddie joked. Richie only smirked.

"Aw, c'mon Eds, you wanted a piece of this from day one, I know you did, and you know it, too."

"Yeah, sure, even though I was eight." Eddie rolled his eyes.

They were both laughing after that, tension seeming to leak out of the situation, if only momentarily.

"So, uh...that means you do like me, huh?" Now he seemed almost shy, and Eddie was still tipsy enough that he felt like Richie's swiftly-changing emotions were giving him whiplash.

"I do." Eddie confirmed, and Richie beamed.

"Does that mean we'll get to kiss when the ball drops at midnight?" Now he was excited.

"We already kissed, you dork! Twice!"

"Yeah, but..." Richie shrugged. "I was kinda hoping at some point we could do it with a little more planning. Maybe a little more sobriety, too?" Now he had gone from shy again to hopeful in under ten seconds. Jesus, Eddie was starting to feel almost dizzy, though that may have been the alcohol still in his system. Maybe a little sobriety would be good. He nodded.

"Yeah, okay."

"Are you idiots together yet?" Bev asked them loudly, coming at them from seemingly out of nowhere. A couple people nearby turned their heads to look at her, but soon went back to ignoring them.

"Together?" Eddie asked in confusion.

"Neverm-mind!" Bill cut in quickly as he dragged Beverly away by the arm. Eddie and Richie stared at each other, Eddie with an eyebrow raised as if asking Richie what the fuck she was talking about. Richie shrugged and Eddie sighed.

"Someone's gotta either keep an eye on her or cut her off soon because I seriously have no idea-"

"You wanna be my boyfriend, Eds?"

Eddie almost choked on his own saliva.

"What??"

"Well..." Again with the nervous Richie. Eddie didn't like nervous Richie, it made him himself feel even more nervous. "We kissed, we confessed that we like each other...seems like the most logical next step, don't you think?"

When the fuck did Richie get logical?? But Eddie nodded.

"Yeah, sure."

"'Sure'?"

"Yes, I do." They grinned at each other.

So they spent the next hour after that just talking, not drinking any more, and just generally keeping to themselves until Beverly found them again, not even asking them anything but just staring at them, eyebrows raised high into her bright red hair, until Richie broke down and told her "yes, Bev, we're together."

"It's about fucking time!" She exclaimed before wandering off again, shouting Stan's name.

"Why is she calling for Stan?" Eddie asked, but Richie just shook his head.

"Don't know and don't really care, Spaghetti, you know why?"

"Why?" Eddie asked. Richie grinned.

"The ball's about to drop!" Then Eddie was being dragged into the next room where the entire party seemed to have gathered to watch the giant ball in New York drop on the TV.

"Five!"

"Four!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!!"

Everyone was cheering and people were kissing people everywhere, and Richie turned to look down at the smaller boy next to him, a grin on his face.

"Happy new year, Eds."

Richie leaned down and kissed him and this time, Eddie did not panic, and he did not run away. It was short and sweet, a mere pressing of the lips softly together, it was everything a first kiss should be, and when they broke apart, Richie did not look hurt or confused, but both of them were smiling, so wide and happy that even their friends from the other side of the room could see it, and the two boys could hear cheers coming from the group of them (they would hear from Bill, Mike, and Ben later that a smug Stan had told Beverly "I told you so" to which the redhead had responded "okay okay, now shut up, I want to watch them kiss!"). They chose to ignore it though, for the time being.

"Happy new year to you, too, Rich."

**Author's Note:**

> I hope that wasn't too bad!! Please let me know if there are any mistakes or just maybe if you like it? :)  
> mylord-mrclarke.tumblr.com, if you're interested


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